Remember the thread about how long it takes you to muck out?

I do a full muck out of a weekly deep litter, including bedding back down, filling haynet and changing water in 30 minutes! That's for a very wet mare too, on a full bed of shavings. Skipping out takes me 10 minutes, mainly because with all the ice about I have no where to tie her whilst I do it and she insists on helping me :rolleyes:
I hate those long handled skippy things, I fancy one of those rakes though. I just use rubber gloves for the daily skip out ATM. I find shavings forks require too much co-ordination for me, I just use a normal fork, goes through the shavings much easier when I do a weekly full muck out.
 
kerilli said:
i still can't see how anyone can take 30mins to muck out a stable though... i could muck out a deep litter, fully, in that time!.
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you are very welcome to come and have a go at doing my mares stable in 5 minutes - i guarantee it will take you at least 20 minutes. It takes 5 minutes alone to get the poo out of the flooring!
 
Ive never used that bedding may look into it, it takes me 15 min per stable but that is full muck out all bedding thrown up and down then they all have big banks, i like them to have a deep bed got to be better for there joints and comfort. Also do nets in that time. Longest bit for me when doing stables is sweeping the yard.
 
I haven't properly timed myself yet but I reckon it takes me approx 30 mins to do a full muck out (all bed thrown up) of a full shavings bed. That includes occasional pauses because my shoulders still hurt when mucking out (don't know why). I swear it takes as long to put the bed down as it does to muck it out (I have to walk all over it to check the depth and for lumps)
I can understand why mucking out a deep litter may be quicker - I find it's the picking over the bed finding the clean / dirty that takes the time. If your cleaning out a deep litter then you just start shovelling!
I'm still waiting for the day when my ***** shovelling muscles appear and I can whiz round in a cloud of shavings.
 
Hmmm if you want to muck out a disgusting horse then you are welcome to come and try my big lad! He's 17'3, in over night from 3pm til 8am. Skipped out at 6pm. He's on ad-lib haylage and his bed is Wood pellets, with a huge straw bed on top. Also in a 15x15 stable with rubber mats! I take out 4 tub trugs of poo and mucky straw by hand with rubber gloves, and that takes about half an hour as he trashes his poo and you have to hunt for it!!

Then I pull the clean straw back off the pellets, take out the wet, then relay the bed. I am very fussy, like to have a full bed almost to the door, big 3ft banks and deep clean straw. It takes me 30mins at least!! Lol. I have 2 horses, have had horses for 20yrs so am not a novice, but guess I have an OCD!!
 
If i had a clean horse like the OP then I could convert if yard owner allowed it but we are only allowed straw or natrual chopped straw type bedding.

Personally my two who come in would take a lot longer than they do now on tha type of bedding. You clearly have very clean horses and good drainage!! We have to deep bed our little mare as she gets soooo wet!

On a "proactive" day it takes less than 5 mins a stable but on some days when I am not in a hurry I can take a lot longer lol!!

I don't do full bed for my guy on rubber, he has a square of straw and is more than happy and it takes a few minutes only to grab the poo and wee spot!

Much easier....

Paper is great if they are clean but mine would walk poo into the whole lot ha ha!:D
 
My horses have thick rubber matting, thick bed of shavings and banks.

It takes me about 10 minutes per bed, thats taking out all wet and muck, re doing banks and putting bed back down,
It takes a little less for my 13.2hh pony who is a very clean lady!
But sometimes a little longer doing my 17.2hh lads stable as he is very messy!
 
Quick question... is this a thread about mucking out, or an advertising thread?

Because I don't see how the brand name of the bedding is relevant to the time taken to muck out.

Would take me 5 minutes if I didn't keep gassing... and btw, I use Woodpecker Snowflake shavings... one of the "red handled shaving forks" (you all know the ones) and a homebase wheelbarrow...
 
Yuletide_Gal said:
Quick question... is this a thread about mucking out, or an advertising thread?

Because I don't see how the brand name of the bedding is relevant to the time taken to muck out.

Would take me 5 minutes if I didn't keep gassing... and btw, I use Woodpecker Snowflake shavings... one of the "red handled shaving forks" (you all know the ones) and a homebase wheelbarrow...
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It's about mucking out times, I haven't mentioned the name of the bedding at all. You could accuse me of advertising the brand name of the mats I use, and the hand fork too, I guess, as I mention those too in the vids.
I'm quicker mucking out this than any other type of bedding, incl shavings or wood pellets (which take time to get wet enough to crumble up), and straw beds take me longest of all to muck out.
I can see how HorseyLad takes that long, with wood pellets under a full straw bed - that would take anyone ages to do properly!
 
Kerilll I tried to do the five min's muck out way no where near that!!! I talk to much to others!! I must stop spending too much time chatting away opps!! I've changed onto cardbord from WP as I didnt get along with them.
 
I love the sound of the Mayo? mats - where can I get details on these and are there suppliers in the South? Most normal mats look so thin and hard.

Thanks :)
 
Would love a bed like that to muck out....

The Dizz walks about being nosey, spreads her hay from whatever the container is (can't have a hay net as she gets the front buckle of her rug caught in it) and mixes it in well, wees like there is no tomorrow (has been checked by vet), poos for England, then mixes it all up and lies on it, just to make sure it's well mushed in. A normal night's muck-out is minimum three heaped wheelbarrows. It used to take upwards of an hour, unless I just took the whole of the middle and some of the sides out.

So, now she has rubber mats and a sprinkling of shavings. I haven't noticed her stable rug being any worse than it was when she had a deep bed :cool:. Her stable rugs are lightweight and washed weekly anyway :) :)
 
MrsMistletoe said:
The Dizz walks about being nosey, spreads her hay from whatever the container is (can't have a hay net as she gets the front buckle of her rug caught in it) and mixes it in well, wees like there is no tomorrow (has been checked by vet), poos for England, then mixes it all up and lies on it, just to make sure it's well mushed in. A normal night's muck-out is minimum three heaped wheelbarrows. It used to take upwards of an hour, unless I just took the whole of the middle and some of the sides out.

So, now she has rubber mats and a sprinkling of shavings. I haven't noticed her stable rug being any worse than it was when she had a deep bed :cool:. Her stable rugs are lightweight and washed weekly anyway :) :)
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I have two like that! (Interestingly, they are both chestnuts). When my old mare was on a full shavings bed it could take me an hour to muck out if I wanted to remove every single bit of mashed dropping. So I opted for the same solution as you, although using Megazorb instead of shavings. Easy peasy and very quick!

As an aside, I have also tried Ecobed and didn't really like it.
 
*Envious* You should do more videos like these! On many different things :) Very useful to be honest :D

I'm stuck on straw with mine as we aren't allowed to use anything else, (YO rules), but I'd much rather use shavings!! Takes me about 20 minutes to do a full muck out of a deep bed...but I'm more thorough than most and I get laughed at for spending at least half that time on my banks :D
 
sussexbythesea said:
I love the sound of the Mayo? mats - where can I get details on these and are there suppliers in the South? Most normal mats look so thin and hard.

Thanks :)
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Robinsons stocks them afaik, about £50 each for 6' x 4'.
I bought mine direct because I needed so many (for 3 large stables plus 3 field shelters) so I got a bit of a discount.
They're definitely warmer than rubber, thicker, plus much lighter to move around (not that I lift the ones in the stables tbh.)

LizzyandToddy, thanks, we intend to do a few more vids, on useful topics if we can think of any!
 
kerilli said:
LizzyandToddy, thanks, we intend to do a few more vids, on useful topics if we can think of any!
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Erm, grooming, bathing, foot care, plaiting, bandaging, managing a muck heap... :D

Thanks for putting the link for the tool btw. I too think the vids are great. :)
 
amandap said:
Erm, grooming, bathing, foot care, plaiting, bandaging, managing a muck heap... :D

Thanks for putting the link for the tool btw. I too think the vids are great. :)
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ditto, weird i know, but i love seeing other people do simple things like that - finding new ways, what wors best etc :)
 
Jade&Syrah said:
Depends what mood i'm in when i muck out to do my mare, but at work we have to do it is a maximum of 10 mins as industry speed is 10 minutes per bed :)
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I also do this for a job but my clients are very fussy - full straw beds that have to be completely turned over every day, every bit of dirty bedding taken out..I can fill a massive yard wheelbarrow from each stable. Including bedding down and fodder I can't get it done in much less than 25 minutes per stable
 
Have to say that my mare does at least one barrow of poo overnight! I can't believe how little your horses do!

She kicks it everywhere too :(

Obviously works well for your set up though :)
 
Loved watching the vids. At the moment I take about 10 mins to muck out straw bedding.

Out of interest, what was your disinfectant made out of? I couldn't quite catch it on the video.
 
AliceFlapjack said:
Loved watching the vids. At the moment I take about 10 mins to muck out straw bedding.

Out of interest, what was your disinfectant made out of? I couldn't quite catch it on the video.
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Oops, my rubbish voice, sorry. The disinfectant is plain water (in a 2L coke bottle, kind of thing) with a few drops each of two or three of the following essential oils, all of which have anti-bacterial and anti-viral qualities, plus they smell really nice:
Lemon
Tea Tree
Lavender (also calming)
Mandarin (which also promotes happiness!)
Red Thyme (one of the ones in which no known bacteria or virus can live.)
Eucalyptus (good for horses' airways too)

I get the oils online, from either Fragrant Earth or Phytobotanica.
I never lift the mats, one was bulging once and needed trimming but when I lifted them all to sort it out, they were dry underneath and there was no smell.
 
kerilli said:
Oops, my rubbish voice, sorry. The disinfectant is plain water (in a 2L coke bottle, kind of thing) with a few drops each of two or three of the following essential oils, all of which have anti-bacterial and anti-viral qualities, plus they smell really nice:
Lemon
Tea Tree
Lavender (also calming)
Mandarin (which also promotes happiness!)
Red Thyme (one of the ones in which no known bacteria or virus can live.)
Eucalyptus (good for horses' airways too)

I get the oils online, from either Fragrant Earth or Phytobotanica.
I never lift the mats, one was bulging once and needed trimming but when I lifted them all to sort it out, they were dry underneath and there was no smell.
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It wasn't your voice, don't worry, more like my awful computer speakers! Thanks for the list :)
 
I went to buy some cardboard bedding to try today, after watching your vids, and the guy in the shop said that he couldn't understand why he had 4 people in today to get it, when normally they sell to one customer a week! So come on, how many of you are near Scarborough :p:D
 
Wow, I am pleasantly surprised at the price of the bedding, for some reason I expected it to be more then shavings! :o :D

It is definitely something I am going to look into, 5 minutes to muck out is sounding VERY appealing to me :D :D

This is probably a daft question but I noticed you put the bedding straight on top of the disinfectant, does this not make the bedding wet?

Also do you have a link to the actual bedding? I just did a search but the site that came up looked different to the stuff you are using!
 
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Walrus, yes, those are the ones, they're £51 each now apparently. Mine have been down 4 years with big shod and unshod horses on, and are fine, they've marked a tiny bit where horses have pawed at them a lot, but not been torn at all, if that makes sense.
fjordhorsefan, that's great, probably pure coincidence but good to hear word is spreading anyway!
Santa's Little Helper, yes, I put the bedding straight back down in winter and it makes the bedding a tiny bit wet but not much, not enough to worry about imho, I'm more concerned about it not being smelly. In summer I leave the bed pulled back from the wet bits, so the disinfected areas can dry off for a few hours.
Since you asked, the website for the bedding is
http://www.ecobed.co.uk/
 
I'm being cynical, but I thought you were doing an Ecobed promo film x 3. Lately, my beds have taken about 35 minutes each. I have a new dog who is a relentless 'fetcher' and I have been designated her 'thrower'...

I hate barrow emptying, I do. Takes for ever, it feels like.
 
fjordhorsefan said:
i went to buy some cardboard bedding to try today, after watching your vids, and the guy in the shop said that he couldn't understand why he had 4 people in today to get it, when normally they sell to one customer a week! So come on, how many of you are near scarborough :p:d
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lol! :d
 
Does any liquid seep under the matts at the wall. How easy is it to trim?

I've never used cardboard bedding, is it just like plain cardboard cut up? Does the wind blow it about the place.
 
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